Slack Usage Jumps 20% As Workers Log On From Home During Coronavirus Pandemic

Slack Technologies Inc WORK shares, which tumbled to a record low of $15.10 in mid-March in the wake of a coronavirus-induced sell-off, have rebounded to the $28 level. 

Slack's simultaneously connected users rose from 10.5 million as of March 16 to 12.5 million as of March 25, the company said in a release, summarizing a "tweetstorm" from CEO Stewart Butterfield. 

Slack User Base Swells During Pandemic

The number of simultaneously connected users differs from the daily active users metric, which stood at 12 million when the company last reported it in October.

Returning teams — an internal Slack metric measuring growth and progression of newly created work teams — rose by more than 120% in Italy, 34% in Japan and 33% in Korea, the company said. 

Slack also noted that newly created work teams increased substantially in the period between March 12 and March 25.

From Feb. 1 through March 25, the company added 9,000 new paid customers, and the average use of Slack increased about 20%.

Microsoft Corporation MSFT said last week its communication platform Teams added 12 million daily active users between March 11 and March 18.

Stephens Continues To Like Slack's 2021 Setup

Commenting on Slack's disclosure, Stephens analyst Ryan MacWilliams said in a note: "As such, we continue to like the FY21 set-up here, absent a significant reduction in enterprise customer growth."

Tthe company had adjusted its fiscal year 2021 guidance twice in the week leading up to its March 12 earnings report and before an inflection in usage in the wake of the pandemic, the analyst said. 

Stephens has an Overweight rating on Slack with a $32 price target.

The stock was trading 10.7% higher to $28.65 at the time of publication Thursday.

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Photo courtesy of Slack.